OPUS Mag

Oct 8 My Favorite DFS Plays For NFL Week 5

The Browns have given up 10 combined touchdown passes in their first four games. Brady makes his return from his ridiculous suspension this week and I expect him to get right to business. Fire him up. I think a Brady/Martellus Bennett stack could be $$$ this week. I’ll touch more on this later.

Brian Hoyer– QB– Chicago Bears (FD$6000/DK$5500)

The Colts don’t rush the passer well, they don’t force turnovers, and they don’t cover well. Brian Hoyer is still cheap and this game should feature quite a few points. He might be a top 10 start this week at QB. Fire him up.

Ben Roethlisberger– QB– Pittsburgh Steelers (FD$8600/DK$7200)

The Jets have given up the most 20+ yard passing plays in football and their secondary has played like they just met each other in the parking lot. Opposing QBs have rung up a 116.5 passer rating against the helpless Jets defense. Roethlisberger is a lot better at home and has his full complement of weapons at his disposal. It might get ugly for the Jets on Sunday.

Philip Rivers – QB– San Diego Chargers (FD$8300/DK$6900)

Although it feels like Rivers loses a new guy on his offense every week, he keeps playing well. The Raiders are giving up 326 passing yards per game and have yielded a 99 QB rating to opposing QBs. With Carr going against a banged up Charger defense on the other side, this game has major shootout potential.

Eli Manning– QB– New York Giants (FD$7700/DK$6000)

Manning, from a real football perspective, has been pretty ordinary this year. From a fantasy perspective he has been as well but that’s only because the touchdowns haven’t been there yet. Everything else is fine. The Packers are currently giving up a 2.0 YPC to opposing running backs this year and are without Sam Shields. This is a fantastic spot for Eli to have a big game and he should be relatively unpopular based on his slow start to the season.

Jerick McKinnon– RB– Minnesota Vikings (FD$6200/DK$4000)

At long last, the Vikings are treating the RB situation like they should. McKinnon is far more talented than the plodder Matt Asiata. He put up 95 yards on 21 touches last week and played almost 70% of the snaps. Houston is stingy to opposing passing games so the way to move the ball for Minny might come via the legs of McKinnon. In season long, McKinnon is shaping up to be a nice weekly play and I don’t think this week is any different.

DeAndre Washington – RB – Oakland Raiders (FD$4700/DK$3700)

Latavius Murray is out with a turf toe injury for Sunday’s game and the Chargers are currently 21st in run defense. He’s dirt-cheap on both sites, which leads to flexibility with your lineups. I know there is a chance he could be involved in an annoying timeshare but Washington is an explosive player who currently averages 6.3 YPC. He should get his opportunities against a Charger defense that scares nobody.

CJ Anderson– RB– Denver Broncos (FD$8000/DK$6900)

Running backs have caught 38 passes against the Falcons this season and have given up a 5 YPC. Anderson is a three down back in a game that his team probably will win comfortably. I think he’s being a bit overlooked this week given all of the circumstances he has working in his favor this week.

Melvin Gordon– RB– San Diego Chargers (FD$7700/DK$7000)

I’m not a huge fan of Gordon and realize that his inefficient play isn’t easy to stomach but he has scored six touchdowns and leads the NFL in carries inside the 20. The Raiders are giving up an average per carry north of five YPC so this is a very favorable matchup for Mr. Gordon. The Chargers and Raiders offenses both have a lot of appeal.

Todd Gurley– RB– Los Angeles Rams (FD$7600/DK$6500)

I don’t really like suggesting Todd Gurley simply because he has a terrifying floor every week that he suits up. He is a tournament specific play this week for me though as playing against an East coast team, who I don’t believe is that good, fresh off a cross country flight is appealing.

Antonio Brown– WR– Pittsburgh Steelers (FD$9600/DK$9800)

The Jets secondary is weak. Antonio Brown is not. The Steelers should score a lot of points and given the Jets strong run defense, the way to do that is through the air. Brown is my favorite WR play of week 5

Brandon Marshall– WR– New York Jets (FD$7600/DK$7100)

I like the idea of pairing Antonio Brown and Brandon Marshall in lineups. As bad as Ryan Fitzpatrick is at football, Marshall just got 12 targets last year against Richard Sherman. He gets a more favorable matchup against the Steelers this week and if this game is as high scoring as it can be, Marshall is likely the main guy to do the damage for the Jets offense.

Odell Beckham Jr– WR– New York Giants (FD$8500/DK $8500)

What’s that sound I hear? Is that the squeaky wheel? Green Bay is content letting you try to beat them in the air. We’ve heard all week about Beckham’s “antics”. The Giants need a win badly and they probably will be putting the ball in the air a lot. This has all the makings of a huge Beckham game on Sunday night. And remember, his first four games of last season are very similar to the first four of this season.

Sammie Coates – WR – Pittsburgh Steelers (FD$5300/DK$3200)

I’ve already mentioned the Jets shitty pass defense. Sammie Coates leads the NFL in 40+ yard pass plays with 5. The Jets have given up the most 40+ yard pass plays with 7. Knowing the Jets they’ll blow coverage and leave him wide open for a 70 yard touchdown. I think he’s a great cheap dice roll.

Steve Smith Sr. – WR– Baltimore Ravens (FD$6300/DK$5300)

Antonio Brown, Dez Bryant, Odell Beckham, and Terrelle Pryor against WSH this season: 27 catches, 385 yards and three touchdowns. They have struggled with primary targets all season and that is what Smith is for the Ravens. Washington hasn’t covered anybody all year and I expect that to continue.

Martellus Bennett– TE– New England Patriots (FD$6300/DK$3700)

Rob Gronkowski still isn’t healthy yet as his snap count/role would suggest. There have been murmurs about it as well. Of course, this could all mean nothing when he puts up 7/128/1 or something like that on Sunday. Despite any suspicions regarding Gronk playing possum, I will still fire up Martellus Bennett anyway. The Browns have allowed 32 catches, 325 yards and two touchdowns to tight ends this year. I’d take my chances with the Brady/Bennett stack and flourish.

Zach Ertz– TE– Philadelphia Eagles (FD$5600/DK$3500)

The Lions have allowed 24 catches for 258 yards and a whopping SIX touchdowns to tight ends this year. Ertz was off to a nice start with a six catch for 58 yard performance in week 1 before his injury. He feels like a mid level TE1 to me.

Will Tye– TE– New York Giants (FD$4800/DK$2600)

Larry Donnell is out. As I mentioned earlier, the Giants being competitive is probably going to rely wholly on their passing game. The Packers are allowing 75 yards per game to tight ends and this looks like a great spot for Tye.

A New York based writer who's particularly fond of slightly inappropriate jokes, listening to 'Knuck If You Buck' on loop, and bringing smiles to various faces. The Mercy College graduate is well versed in most sports and dabbles occasionally in various other areas like music and politics. His interests include Eric Decker touchdowns, anything involving Kristaps Porzingis, good jokes, great pizza and peacefully walking around NYC on Saturday nights looking for a spot to invade.

A New York based writer who's particularly fond of slightly inappropriate jokes, listening to 'Knuck If You Buck' on loop, and bringing smiles to various faces. The Mercy College graduate is well versed in most sports and dabbles occasionally in various other areas like music and politics. His interests include Eric Decker touchdowns, anything involving Kristaps Porzingis, good jokes, great pizza and peacefully walking around NYC on Saturday nights looking for a spot to invade.

Coeur Noir is an autofiction novel written by Al Patron. The title is Haitian Creole for black heart or heart of black, in reference to the traits of the main protagonist, Nikolas Daniel...who may or may not be based on Al Patron himself. A coming of age novel Coeur Noir will evoke emotional reactions ranging from but not limited to crying & laughter, all while detailing a path to greatness for Al Pa...pardon...Nikolas Daniel.